Another Mother’s Day has come and gone; six to be exact since Tony died. It is still weird to wake up on a day like Mother’s Day without him. I always take myself back in time to the last one he was alive for. He and the boys picked up the house, emptied the dishwasher, […]
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The Saying “You Marry Your Mother”
There is a saying “you marry your mother / father,” which suggests that people often subconsciously choose a partner with similar temperaments, traits, behaviors, etc as their parents. A few years into my and Lynn’s relationship, I remember thinking this saying seemed to be true for me. This Mother’s Day, I am remembering the ways […]
Paw-sing to Thank the Dog Moms
Happy Dog Mom’s Day (always the Saturday before the human version) and Mother’s Day Weekend. I don’t have any human kids of my own, but I do have four sweet K-9 Kiddos for which I’m grateful. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. I spend considerable time on sites for the […]
Life’s Ups and Downs
May 3rd marked what would have been Mario’s 53rd birthday. So it was one of those anniversaries. In life, Mario never made a big deal out of his birthdays. Like I’ve mentioned before, I think it was because he knew he’d get a more limited amount of them than some people get. But rather than […]
Brave New World
Recently, I saw a presentation on the inter-Google that piqued my interest in AI. The pitch involved using AI to write fast, cheap novels you can hawk for sale on Amazon. Romance? Done. Mystery. Complete. Sci-fi? To quote the Terminator, “No problemo.” As Zoey’s tutor, I’ve been closely following efforts to ensure academic integrity in […]
What do Cinco de Mayo 🇲🇽 and Mother’s Day 💐 have in common?
Nothing, except everything. Yesterday, May 5th, the grief hit me out of nowhere, yet not entirely unexpectedly. We loved turning nothing into something, any excuse into a celebration. Take Cinco de Mayo, for instance. Not Mexican Independence Day 🇲🇽 and not a widely celebrated holiday in Mexico, but after nearly 30 years […]
Ya gotta feel all the feelings
… and I’ve sure been doing a lot of ‘feeling’ lately. Feeling Jim’s absence here in our home as the days, weeks, months pass. Feeling my age … in my brain and in my body. I just don’t have the energy to “people” – to put on that happy face for others. I have a […]
A Hole in the House
What in the widowed life is going on here? I have a literal hole in my house. This is a prime example of a situation where I would have had to exert zero thoughts on the matter if Tony was alive. Instead, I am very overwhelmed. Last week, my oldest came home from school and […]
Need to Update My Emotional Emergency Fund
I read recently that “Emergency funds are financial shock absorbers, protecting your budget from unexpected car repairs, medical bills, job loss, etc. Funds should be kept in a safe, easily accessible account. This can reduce financial stress, and act as a buffer against income disruptions.” It made me reflect on the times when I have had a healthy emergency […]
Alternate Routes
It was an eventful week filled with emotional milestones. I spent most of the week up in Georgia again to ready my home for a new tenant. As I’ve shared previously, I put my house up for sale two months ago and in doing so, invested considerable energy and funds to make it shine. I […]
Hanging with Other Widowed People
I mentioned the first failed attempt at going to a local widow’s group I was invited to join but this Monday rolled around and my friend who invited me texted me to remind me the group was meeting for lunch that day. The struggle is real when you’re an introvert and you’re asked to “show […]
Green Grow the Lilacs, All Sparkling with Dew
Last week, Tim the gardener made his first appearance of the season at my property. Since Lee’s death, this has become an annual rite of Spring. Before I used Tim’s services, I depended on Lee to excavate and rescue the previous year’s growth from the harsh remnants of winter’s bramble. In her day, she would […]